


Emotional Damages

by magicalzombiebear



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Mechanic Poe, Modern AU, bb-8 is a teenager, human BB-8, mechanic AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2016-01-07
Packaged: 2018-05-12 08:57:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5660479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicalzombiebear/pseuds/magicalzombiebear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Poe grimaced. “Please tell me you didn’t tell him about that story Snap told you where I got drunk and told a whole bar full of college kids I loved dark-skinned princes.”</p><p>BB just smiled widely and pulled from her pocket the twenty Poe had given her the day before. </p><p>“Consider it compensation for emotional damages.”</p><p>Or, the one where BB-8 is Poe's teenaged assistant at his repair shop and when she's not really good at her job she's really good at getting him into trouble.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Emotional Damages

“Here.”

Poe handed the teenager a twenty and began shoving her out the door. “Go get some lunch.”

After five times, BB’s meddling was getting out of control. Every time an attractive guy came in she’d do something embarrassing in order to “push Poe”. All it succeeded in doing was pushing Poe’s buttons. First it had been an “accidental” shove. That had resulted in the guy’s car being damaged further, and half the pay being taken off as an apology. Then she’d come into the garage super early (she’d paid Jess to open up for her, and Poe had almost killed his fellow mechanic) and painted Poe’s cell number onto the hood of his latest customer. Poe had barely finished painting over it when the guy came to get his car, and Poe had to tell him that the paint job was fresh because they were swamped, despite the fact that Jess and Snap were sitting in the back watching funny videos and BB was sitting on the floor playing with a model X-wing.

The most recent offense had been BB telling the owner of the motorcycle she was currently working on that Poe liked “the scruffy-looking type” and that if the guy was into Poe he should “jump that like a hurdler in the Olympics”.

“But I’m not done with that motorcycle!” she cried as Poe continued to usher her out.

“The owner isn’t due back until tomorrow, you’ll find time!” BB huffed but left the garage. Poe blew out a breath and ignored Snap’s amused look. Jessica patted his shoulder. “Teenagers..” she said with mock sympathy.

“If you didn’t egg her on it wouldn’t get so bad.”

Jessica scoffed. “Hey, I don’t make up the plans, I just get paid to help carry them out.”

Just then a customer entered carrying a battered-looking scooter. The hand rail was twisted the wrong way, the wheels were scuffed and the brake looked like it had a hammer taken to it.

The guy carrying it, though, looked a lot much better. He was dark-skinned and gorgeous, and Poe immediately felt his heart speed up. He noticed Jess about to approach him but gave her a look. She smiled and nodded her head, letting Poe get this one. And for the first time in a while there was no BB to screw things up.

“Hey there, what can I do for you?” He wanted to do all kinds of things _to_ him, but that was neither here nor there.

“Um, hey. I was wondering if you fix scooters?”

“I can fix anything.” The man smiled widely. Poe all but became a puddle on the floor. No, he normally didn’t fix things like scooters, but how could he say no? “Great! I know this guy has seen better days, but I’ve had him since I was a kid. I like riding it to work.” Poe smiled and reached his hands out, indicating he wanted to examine the scooter. The man gave it to him. As Poe checked the wheels to see if he had them in stock, he asked the man his name.

“FN.”

“F…N…?”

He nodded, frowning as if he didn’t like the sound of it either. “Is that like, initials?” FN shrugged. “I sort of grew up in an orphanage. FN was all I had. My friend Rey’s been trying to change it for me, but her suggestions are kind of terrible.”

Poe stepped over to a drawer and checked it to see if he had the wheels. He ordered a bunch like it when BB had tried to learn to roller skate, but failed miserably. She decided her own two feet were efficient enough for getting around. She moved so fast sometimes Poe thought she had wheels built into her feet.

Poe removed two black wheels and stepped back over to where FN was waiting, going on about how 'Friendly Nerd' was not a name, but more of a description.

“Well, FN, what about Finn?” The name had sort of popped into Poe's head as he'd been searching. There was no last name, but he was sure the guy could find one easily. Maybe take the last name of this Rey person.

Poe couldn’t see his reaction, he was too busy checking to make sure the wheels were the right size. He did hear FN’s excited exclamation of, “Yeah, Finn, I like that!”

Poe eyed him, honestly surprised he took it. But Poe felt a draw to this guy, and seeing him happy automatically made Poe happy. Plus it wasn’t every day you got to name attractive strangers.

“Well, Finn, this shouldn’t take more than a day. How about you come back tomorrow, same time?” Finn smiled just as there was a thunderous crack of lightning. Poe and Finn jumped, and suddenly the sky was black and rain began to pour down in buckets. “Oh, man, I gotta go meet Rey. Without my scooter it’ll take twice as long.”

Poe smiled, because the fact that Finn rode a scooter around town was adorable. But then Poe realized that Finn was only wearing a t-shirt, and that by the time he reached wherever he was going he’d be soaked through. “Hey, Finn, here!” Poe ran to the back of the room, Jess smirking relentlessly and Snap giving him a thumbs up. Poe snatched his brown leather jacket from the work bench and returned to the entrance, giving it to Finn.

“I can’t-“

“You will. Bring it back tomorrow, it’s fine. I don’t want you to freeze before I can get paid.”

Poe meant it as a joke, and he was so glad that Finn smiled when he said it.

“Alright. Tomorrow, then.” Poe watched him leave until he couldn’t see him anymore, marveling at the way his jacket fit him. Immediately he ran over to the scooter so he could work on it.

“Ten bucks he lets him keep the jacket.” Jess said. “No way, Poe loves that thing. He’s had it since before we got BB.”

Poe ignored them as best he could, but smiled because Jess may have been a little too on the mark.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

BB spent most of her time with Poe helping out. He still occasionally took her on all sorts of trips to different places as a thank you for being one of the best assistants a mechanic could ask for. She could carry all manner of things in her overflowing tool belt, and all you had to do was say “wrench” and she’d give you the exact type you needed, down to the size.

She was almost like Poe’s little sister. She’d been left on Leia’s doorstep when she was a small child. Leia was the owner of the garage, and a war veteran. She was sort of like a mother to Poe. The ex-General had a halfway home for families torn apart by war, and it wasn’t uncommon for people to leave children. BB had been four when she was abandoned, and Leia had been surprised at the girl’s natural ability with machinery. It had started off as her taking the light switch covers off and messing with the wires, and had escalated to her fixing the washing machine and making it better than it was when they’d bought it.

When Poe had visited to help out as he always did, he saw that the girl was eager, talented and ridiculously smart for her age. So he asked Leia if he could teach her about what he did. Leia saw no problem with that, and Poe slipped into the older brother role very smoothly. BB had at first been hesitant to learn from him, but once she saw the garage she had fallen in love. Soon enough, BB was teaching Poe things. Jess and Snap loved to play with her too, and they all found an easy rhythm. As BB grew, they gave her more room to tinker on her own until she was a twelve-year-old repairing the cars with no help. And now she was sixteen, which blew Poe’s mind. But she was a part of his family now, whether either of them liked it or not.

So when BB didn’t return to the garage that day, or to the halfway home later on, he was a bit of a wreck.

“What do you mean she’s not here?” Poe looked at the woman who cared for the teenagers like she had personally hurt Poe. He knew it wasn’t her fault, but this was BB. This was a girl he’s practically raised.

“We assumed she was having dinner with you, Jess and Snap. Or that you took her out. It’s not the first time you guys have kept her past dark.”

Poe wanted to scream. It was his fault. He’d given her that money to go get food, and now she was missing. What if she’d been kidnapped? What if she was…?

Why hadn't he just paid for her to get a cell phone? He was trying to keep her from being obsessed with self-image, but he never thought she'd get lost.

Poe ran from the home and back to the garage. It was still raining, though not as bad as earlier. He had no intention of going inside since it was all locked up now. What he did was stand there and think. Where would she go? She wasn’t a big eater, but when she did it was usually burgers or pizza. The closest restaurant that had those was Jakku Eats, so Poe headed there immediately. He was relieved to see they were still open.

"Excuse me? Were you working the lunch shift?” The woman at the counter nodded. “Yeah, but we don’t do lunch past three.”

“That’s fine, I just wanted to know if a girl came in earlier. Short, red hair, most likely paid with a twenty?” The woman thought about it for a moment and her eyes got wide. “Oh no, you don’t mean the one our dishwasher was talking to?”

Poe blinked. He had no idea if that was her.

“I don’t know.”

The girl sighed and put her hands up so she could move them animatedly as she talked . “So, our dishwasher was on break and when she came in she had this girl with her. Same description, but she never bought anything. Anyway, the dishwasher-Rey, her name is-Rey was heading back into the kitchen when our boss offered the redhead a job. We’ve been looking for an extra waitress. Rey told her not to accept, but the redhead said she already had a job. She seemed so young though, I don’t know what she could possibly do. Maybe works at another restaurant...”

“Ok, what happened next?” Poe didn’t have time for this to be a gossip session.

“Right, so the redhead comes up to order when a young guy comes in and the redhead screeches and says, ‘That’s not yours!’ and all but attacks the guy. Rey tried to get her off of him, but she was feisty. Anywho, the guy has no idea what she’s talking about and the girl doesn’t say anything, until Rey is like, ‘She means the jacket.’ And the guy explained he borrowed the jacket from someone, I don’t remember. But the redhead doesn’t believe him and runs out. The other two followed her, and that’s the last I saw of her.”

Poe stood there for a moment, taking the story in. The young guy had to have been Finn, especially since the dishwasher was named Rey. That was the name Finn had mentioned at the garage. BB knew the jacket was something Poe had had for a long time. Poe protected it with his life because it was important to him, one of the few things he’s had longer than he knew BB. And when BB was little he’d put the jacket around her and they’d laugh at how big it was on her. He knew that BB loved the jacket as much as Poe did, because it held memories. She must have thought Finn had stolen it, because in her mind the jacket was not something he’d just give away.

Poe ran a hand down his face. No matter how he looked at it, it was his fault. He sent BB out, he gave Finn the jacket, and now she was god knows where. He barely knew Finn, what if he was a murderer? What if this girl Rey was a murderer? What if BB was now a part of some illicit gang!?

Poe ran out of the restaurant, leaving a five in the tip jar, and walked the blocks in the vicinity of the restaurant. He couldn’t see BB anywhere, nor could he find any sign of his jacket. He was hoping maybe Finn had dropped it, or that BB would leave some clue.

Poe did not sleep. He went to his apartment above the garage and sat in his kitchen until morning. It wasn’t until he heard Jess arrive that he finally moved to take a shower. When he descended the stairs Jess’ eyes snapped onto him. “BB? Did you find her at the home?”

Poe shook his head. “I looked everywhere, Jess. I walked all around here last night and there’s just…no sign of her.” He could see tears well up in Jess’ eyes, but he knew she wouldn’t let them fall. “She’s BB. She’ll be ok.”

Poe had to believe that.

When Snap arrived he seemed just as on edge, and became just as depressed when he found out BB was not found. Poe had not given up, though. As soon as he finished BB’s work on the motorcycle he would go out and look again. Even if it took all day.

Poe did not have a car, so he borrowed Snap’s. Snap handed him the keys eagerly and said, “Tell her I’m waiting on that ten-spot she owes me. It’ll make her laugh.”

Poe smiled and agreed to do so before driving around. After a few hours, he didn’t even really know what he was doing any more. He just sort of felt lost. So he returned to the garage and took a moment to just sit there. She would turn up. It had only been a day. After another one passed he'd get the police and they'd find her.

As he got out, he noticed a flash of red hair coming down the sidewalk, accompanied by light brown leather over dark brown skin.

“BB?” The girl, who had been chatting pleasantly with Finn, looked toward Poe. She smiled brightly and barreled toward him. Poe gathered her up in a bone-crushing hug.

“BB! BB, where have you been, I’ve been out looking for you!” He chased away tears as BB smiled, her eyes shining.

“Finn helped me. I saw him in a restaurant and thought he stole your jacket so I ran away, right into traffic. He pulled me out of the way just in time, but I hit my shoulder on the way down. After that, he and his friend Rey insisted I go to the hospital, just in case I dislocated it or something.”

Poe’s jaw dropped. Finn had saved his best assistant, his little buddy, from certain death, and then fussed over her safety.

“Go get him, tiger.” BB said, winking and skipping into the garage to greet Jess and Snap.

“Poe.” Finn said. “Poe, I’m really sorry-“

But Poe just ran forward and hugged Finn. “Buddy!” he exclaimed. Finn returned the embrace, but his face gave away his confusion when Poe pulled back. “BB says you saved her life! I can’t thank you enough.” Finn seemed taken aback. “It was my fault, she wouldn’t have run out there if I hadn’t been-“

“Wearing the jacket I gave you. That’s on me, not you. I didn’t think she’d see you in it, but I’m not surprised she was upset. You saved her, though. Thank you.”

Finn smiled uncertainly and began to remove the jacket. “No, no, no!” Poe stopped him and tugged the jacket back onto his shoulders.

“Keep it, it suits you.”

“Won’t BB be upset if I keep it?”

Poe just shook his head. “She’ll get over it.”

Finn nodded and Poe waved him into the garage where BB had already put her tool belt back on and was checking over the motorcycle Poe had finished for her. She was excitedly telling the other two mechanics all about her adventures in the hospital and how one of the guys in the waiting room was actually some famous war hero.

Poe grabbed the scooter he’d fixed the day previous and rolled it over to Finn. “Amazing.” He said, eyeing the now correctly placed handlebars. Poe hadn’t had the same kind of foam as the one already covering the handles, so he had cut two new foam coverings for both sides. He’d hammered the dents out of the brake and repainted it, and the wheels were brand new.

“Thank you, Poe. How much?” Poe shook his head. “You saved BB. It’s on the house.”

The younger boy smiled brightly at Poe. Could Poe’s heart actually burst out of his chest? He noticed something behind Finn and glanced over to see BB pulling a lighter out of her tool belt and igniting it, mouthing the word, 'Flaming!' and pointing at Finn. Poe took in the meaning and blushed, though he was happy to know that Finn was also gay.

“Um..” Finn started. “Poe, I was wondering if maybe I could…leave my number with you. You know, in case I need you to do some…tinkering…” Poe couldn’t believe his luck.

“Definitely. You know, I love to tinker.” Why was he suddenly ridiculously uncool?

But Finn liked it, judging by his expression. He began to write the number on a napkin he’d grabbed from his pocket. Poe tried not to hyperventilate when BB appeared once more in his line of vision, this time with a screw and a washer, moving the washer over the screw in an obscene gesture.

Poe mouthed, ‘Not helping!’ at her, hoping she didn’t do something crazy and ruin this one for him too.

‘I already helped!’ she mouthed back. Poe furrowed his brow, but just then Finn stood up and handed the napkin to Poe. “See you around!” Finn said brightly, letting his hand linger on Poe’s for a moment too long and stepping onto the scooter, rolling away. Poe shook his head at the sight. It looked ridiculous, but in the cutest way possible.

BB came over to Poe and high-fived him. “You’re welcome.”

“All you did was almost get hit by a car. Unless you did that on purpose…” She couldn’t be that much of a mastermind…

“No, of course not. But I definitely mentioned that receiving that jacket was kind of a big deal. I also definitely mentioned how super gay you are. And there might have been some talk about your preference for…erm, darker men.”

Poe grimaced. “Please tell me you didn’t tell him about that story Snap told you where I got drunk and told a whole bar full of college kids I loved dark-skinned princes.”

BB just smiled widely and pulled from her pocket the twenty Poe had given her the day before. “Consider it compensation for emotional damages.”

Poe sighed and snatched the bill from her, but still ruffled her hair. He couldn’t stay mad when Finn knew about something like that and still gave him his number. Maybe it had been a good thing, BB driving away all those other guys. Poe turned back to his work and pretended not to notice Jess accepting ten dollars from a surprised albeit impressed Snap.


End file.
